We have detected that you are using an adblocking plugin in your browser.

The revenue we earn by the advertisements is used to manage this website. Please whitelist our website in your adblocking plugin.

CD review: Stokowski: A Renaissance and Baroque Concert

By Paul E. Robinson on August 14, 2014

Stokowski- A Renaissance and Baroque Concert

Music by Bach, Vivaldi, Cesti, Lully, Frescobaldi, Palestrina and Gabrieli arranged and conducted by Leopold Stokowski with his Symphony Orchestra
Original recordings made by RCA Victor in 1950 and 1952 and restored by producer and audio restoration engineer Mark Obert-Thorn
Pristine Audio PASC 391 (75: 40)

Stokowski was well-known for transcribing the work of older composers, especially J.S. Bach. Many critics regarded these arrangements as distortions of the composers’ intentions. In the light of what we have learned about authentic performance practice in the past 30 years or so, contemporary musicians and music-lovers have become even less tolerant of Stokowski’s transcriptions.

So it is not surprising that the pieces on this new Pristine CD have never before been transferred to CD. Surely only the most fanatical of Stokowski’s admirers would want them. Stokowski’s orchestration of Vivaldi’s Concerto Grosso Op. 3 No. 11 is an out-and-out absurdity – a Monty Pythonesque send-up.

On the other hand, some of Stokowski’s transcriptions of Bach organ works still stand up pretty well, especially with the maestro himself at the helm. He recorded his version of the Passacaglia and Fugue in c minor many times but this one features superb playing from the members of “his symphony orchestra.” The recording was made in New York at a time when Stokowski had a close association with the New York Philharmonic and this “pick-up” orchestra probably featured many members of the Philharmonic. For contractual reasons RCA Victor could not record the New York Philharmonic, at least in name.

Mark Obert-Thorn has done his usual exemplary job in putting these old recordings in shape. In his notes he recounts his challenges with tape hiss, uneven volume levels, variations in pitch, etc. but he seems to have overcome all such problems. It should be noted that he was working from LP copies. One assumes that the original RCA Victor tapes have long since disappeared.

CD available here.

Paul E. Robinson

Paul Robinson is the author of Herbert von Karajan: the Maestro as Superstar, and Sir Georg Solti: His Life and Music. For friends: The Art of the Conductor podcast, “Classical Airs.”

Share this article
lv_toronto_banner_high_590x300
comments powered by Disqus

FREE ARTS NEWS STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX, EVERY MONDAY BY 6 AM

company logo

Part of

Terms of Service & Privacy Policy
© 2024 | Executive Producer Moses Znaimer